


September, 2023: At Least The War Is Over

by RoryKurago



Series: Kurago [7]
Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: F/F, Gen, Post-Knifehead
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-26
Updated: 2014-12-26
Packaged: 2018-03-03 15:16:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 523
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2855486
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RoryKurago/pseuds/RoryKurago
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Do you want to build a snowman?” She sits at the end of Stephanie’s hospital bed, her dark hair draped in a plait over her shoulder. Her edges are fuzzy like a snowflake.</p>
            </blockquote>





	September, 2023: At Least The War Is Over

**Author's Note:**

> Technically part of 31 Days of PacRim, but these ladies need more love.

 

“Do you want to build a snowman?” She sits at the end of Stephanie’s hospital bed, her dark hair draped in a plait over her shoulder. Her edges are fuzzy like a snowflake.

“That’s a stupid movie, Kens.”

Kennedy smiles softly at her. “But it’ll be fun.” She pats the blanket beside Stephanie’s foot. “Come on.”

Stephanie shifts restlessly. “It’s late. And it’s dark, and there are nurses and guards every two feet just outside.”

“We don’t even have to go as far as the sentries.” Kennedy's cotton pyjamas are lighter than Stephanie’s. But maybe that’s the light: the medical bay is dimmed to an artificial twilight this late, and all the other beds are empty. This is a world of green shadows and dull silver. In it, Kennedy’s eyes are shadowed and her freckles blur into a darker skin tone. Her lips are salt-cracked.

Stephanie closes her eyes. “No, Kens.”

“Steph,” Kennedy wheedles, and her voice is soft as a fresh snowfall: “I heard it’s been snowing since last night. There’s two fresh feet already. You could use some fun.”

Stephanie opens her eyes.

Kennedy’s hand rests on the blanket by Stephanie’s shin and her other is loose in her lap. Except it isn’t—her left sleeve hangs empty. “You could use some fun,” she repeats, and her edges are fuzzy.

Stephanie’s throat is tight, her eyes are burning, and her left side is on fire. The morphine is wearing off. She closes her eyes. “I said no, Kens.”

“Aw, you’re never any fun in winter. I practically had to drag you out of the dorm on Kodiak. I _did_ have to drag you out of bed.”

“I _said no, Kens,_ ” Stephanie bites out and her voice now is rough as a mid-sea extraction from a sinking Pod. She’s twisted onto her side, blankets pulled tight, and catheter in her elbow swiveling painfully. Squeezing her eyes shut so she doesn’t see. Can’t see.

It feels like a breath ghosts across her eyelids. “Why won’t you let me help you?”

Kennedy’s brown eyes are an inch from hers when they open. Stephanie intends to be angrily curt—‘brusque’, the profiles put it—but it’s Kennedy, she’s _right there_ , and Stephanie’s left side is pressed into the mattress _burning_. She doesn’t say anything.

Kennedy’s features compress with sympathy. She lies down, laying an arm over her co-pilot just below where blanket covers skin. It feels like snow falling.

“Hush, love,” she says as Stephanie closes her eyes again – this time to block out the light creeping through her co-pilot’s edges where she lies lengthways alongside Stephanie on the hospital bed. “It won’t always been like this.”

The morphine is wearing off, Stephanie's left side is on fire, and the heart monitor beside the bed is starting to speed up.

“It won’t always hurt like this,” Kennedy whispers. An alarm goes off. A nurse is coming. Stephanie breathes like the counsellors at the Academy taught them in mediation and lets her head rock forward to where Kennedy’s forehead would be. The air is cold.

“We should build a snowman,” Kennedy says reflectively. “One last time.”

**Author's Note:**

>  _Wake up, say good morning to that sleepy person next to you; if there's no one there, then there's no one there, but at least the war is over_ \- Stars: 'In Our Bedroom After The War'


End file.
